Everyone likes to see a slugfest. But by no means is that guaranteed, and if a few telling hints prove true, the fight could be closer in form to the one lost by Lesnar’s illness (diverticulitis).

Dos Santos and Carwin square off Saturday at UFC 131, which takes place at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The night’s main card airs on pay-per-view, and Spike TV and Facebook split the preliminary card.

You’ll never hear Carwin or Dos Santos promise anything other than an explosive end to the fight, as well they should to sell the event. They do have 15 knockouts between them to back predictions of ending the fight with their fists. One punch from either could end the night. In the first round, there is danger of a sudden stoppage.

“This is going to be an explosive fight,” Carwin said. “I believe in my power and knocking people out, and I know he does as well.”

But in deep waters, there are different skill sets put to the test (if nobody gets clipped early on). While Dos Santos has shown little interest in doing anything other than looking for the knockout, Carwin brings a grappler’s toolbox to the fight.

That’s why you haven’t heard about knockouts to the exclusion of anything else from the full-time engineer. An amendment to win by ground and pound or a win by submission has acted as a kind of verbal insurance policy for Carwin, a way of justifying a plan that might or might not be as exciting as a firefight in the center of the octagon.

But taking the fight down is simply a smart move (and an entirely understandable one given Carwin’s 11-month layoff and neck surgery that threatened his ability to compete at the highest levels). There’s also the lessons learned from a loss to Lesnar at UFC 116 in which he completely gassed out throwing punches in the first round. Then there’s the prize at the end of a win over Dos Santos: a shot at Velasquez.

Of course, with Carwin’s raw power, just about anything gets exciting when he lets his hands go in any range. He could muscle Dos Santos against the cage, unload punches, and deliver the same result as in open range. He did so against Frank Mir at UFC 111 and won the interim title. But listen to the people around him, and you start getting a sense that something is afoot. Either there’s a plan to make Dos Santos worry about the takedown so he’s a bit more stingy with his punches, or yes, the plan is to put the Brazilian on his back.

“Shane Carwin is going to run through Dos Santos, put him on his back, (and) smash him out,” Carwin trainer Trevor Wittman said.

The former plan might be taking effect, if appearances are to be believed. Dos Santos thinks it logical that when he starts throwing, Carwin is going to think twice about standing in the way.

“I think Shane Carwin is coming from wrestling,” he said on Thursday in a pre-fight press conference in support of the event. “So I think I’m faster than him. As soon as he feels my hands (and) my speed, I think he’s going to try to take me down.”

Dos Santos’ trainers are completely confident that Carwin won’t get close enough to even contemplate a takedown.

“Before Shane can take him down, he’s going to have to go through a barrage of punches, and that’s going to be very hard to do,” said Dos Santos’ trainer Luiz Dorea.

Whatever Carwin’s tact, you don’t get the indication that Dos Santos is going to do anything else than swing until somebody falls down. He has yet to reach the top of the heavyweight mountain. He is 10 years Carwin’s junior, and he’s enjoying a seven-fight win streak. The only thing to test his confidence in his UFC run is a decision victory over Roy Nelson 10 months ago that proved not everyone falls to his punches. It would be hard to argue, though, that Nelson and Carwin are completely different animals.

The main problem Dos Santos has encountered is the adrenaline deficit brought by not fighting in 10 months.

“[I have] too much time stopped,” he said. “But I’m not too worried. I’m glad because the UFC didn’t change the date of the fight. So now I get to fight Saturday, and I’m ready for this.”

But we’ll find out Saturday who’s bluffing in a promise to stand and trade.

Florian and Nunes vie for all-powerful “in the mix” spot

With UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo on the bench until perhaps the end of the year, the featherweights are lining up. And Kenny Florian (14-5 MMA, 11-4 UFC) and Diego Nunes (16-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) might be second or third in queue with their co-main-event fight.

Florian brings proven street cred as a two-time lightweight title-challenger who hit a wall against the bigger wrestlers of the division. He’s looking to establish a foothold at 145 pounds for a third shot at a title. It’s his first time at featherweight after having started his UFC career all the way up at middleweight on “The Ultimate Fighter 1.”

Nunes has been scraping it out in the WEC at 145 pounds and got an easy ticket to the big show when the promotion folded this past year. He’s since made a big impression with a win over former WEC champ Mike Brown in his octagon debut, and a win over Florian would be a serious feather his cap.

“This is a dream come true,” Nunes said on Thursday. “I’ve been wanting this my whole life, and I’m going to give it my all. I feel this is a gift from God, and I’m going to take it and run with it and do whatever I can to put on a performance for you guys.”

Could a win over Maia put Munoz on title track?

Also on the UFC 131 main card, Mark Munoz (10-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and Demian Maia (14-2 MMA, 8-2 UFC) square off in a middleweight matchup.

Maia, an ADCC champion, looks to make it three and a row after his now-infamous title bid against Anderson Silva at UFC 112. Wins against Mario Miranda and Kendall Grove have highlighted his improving standup game, though it’s likely he’ll go back to basics against Munoz, a decorated collegiate wrestler who’s also on a two-win tilt.

Since a split-decision loss to now-No. 1 contender Yushin Okami, Munoz has rebounded with a decision win over Aaron Simpson and, most recently, a knockout win over Simpson’s teammate, C.B. Dollaway. In a division light with contenders and dominated by Silva, Munoz could make an argument for a title shot with a few wins by year’s end.

A former ADCC champ, Einemo returns to action after a nearly five-year absence from the cage. Now working with Golden Glory in the Netherlands, he’s taking a big gamble on the biggest stage in MMA.

Herman, who originally was scheduled to meet Joey Beltran before Lesnar’s withdrawal opened up a spot to fight Einemo, is a veteran of the Japanese circuit as well as a former Bellator fighter. He comes into the cage on a two-fight win streak.

Lightweights Donald Cerrone (14-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Vagner Rocha (6-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) also square off. Cerrone, a two-time title-challenger in the WEC, originally was slated to fight Mac Danzig before injury took Danzig off the card. Rocha, a decorated submission grappler under Pablo Popovitch, makes his octagon debut after one-fight stints in Bellator and Strikeforce.

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